High season for this sport is May to September and there are 2 championships:

• Puerto Rico Deep-Sea Fishing Championship.                                       29 - 31 of July.
• Pasito Blanco Deep-Sea Fishing Championship.                                    26 - 28 of August.

Will see if this time a new world record is broken again.

We strongly recommend to take a look at the Yacht Marina in Puerto Rico between the 29th and the 31st of July.

(Photo: Leonor on the left and Lucy on the right)

Although the fiestas here in Arguineguin started last weekend we all got a little carried away with the world cup and forgot to inform you all of the program of events!

The Romeria (offering to the Virgin Carmen) was held on Saturday; thousands dressed in their Canarian costumes and joined in the fun including Lonnie, Leonor and myself.  The Pilgrimage floats set off from the market square at roughly 7pm passing through the streets to the church square where the offerings were made.

Here is the program for the rest of the fiestas that will finish on Sunday.

Wednesday the 14^th of July

21:00 h: Children’s Theatre company “Barullo” presents Pinocchio
Location: Plaza de las Marañuelas

21:30 h: Scala en Hifi for adults
Location: Plaza de Las Maranuelas

Thursday the 15^th of July

19:00 h: Traditional Children’s Games and Typical Canarian Food Contest
Location: Playa de las Marañuelas

21:30 h: Tribute to Expedito Oliva Segura, photographer of the Municipal followed by popular music from the group “Encanatadores”.
Location: Plaza de las Marañuelas
23:30 h: Open-air dance with “Güira Latina”
Location: Plaza del Mercadillo (market square)

Friday 16th July – Dia de Nuestra Senora del Carmen (Bank holiday in Mogán municipal)

11:00 – 14:00 h: Ludo Children’s Park
Location: Plaza de las Maranuelas

12:30 h: Tribute to the elderly of 75 years +
Location: Club 3ª Edad La Jaca

19:00 h: Mass and Procession accompanied by “Banda Barrial”

23:00 h: “El Carmen 2010″ Concert – “Salvapantallas”, “Foncho” and “DJ Promaster”
Location: Chiringuito Zone

00:30 h: Open-air dance with “Caracter Latino”
Location: Plaza del Mercadillo (market square)

Saturday 17th July

18:00 h: Bajada de la Rama (water fight) with the bands Gran Canaria and Barrial
Leaves from: Plaza de Pino Seco

23:00 h: Open-air late night dance with Orchestra “Banda Joven” and “Primera Linea”
Location: Plaza del Mercadillo (market square)

00:00 h: Fireworks Display

Sunday 18th July

10:30 h: Eucharist followed by the Virgin del Carmen Maritime Procession where the Virgin is taken to Puerto de Mogán by boat.
20:00 h: Theater presented by the “Taller de teatro Los Pescadores de Arguineguin” followed by the rope dance with the folklore group “Los Parranderos del Sur”
Location: Plaza de las Marañuelas

More videos at our Youtube Channel.

Although I was personally denied the opportunity to participate myself this year I felt the need to write about this great event which I have been to many times over the past years.  Leonor (second from left in the picture in 2007), our office director in Puerto Rico spent the weekend there with her family and dressed up to join in the fun and our colleague Marta also went to watch together with her family and some friends visiting the island who marvelled at the experience.

More than 3000 people congregated in this small village where the locals pride themselves on the utmost attention to detail in every aspect including costumes and religious beliefs.  It is one of a few where the locals walk along offering a taste of the typical food products to the bystanders.  Many conclude that this is one of the best Romerias on the island and this year 19 Pilgrimage floats from Mogán and other areas of the island decorated the streets together with the traditionally dressed participants.  Together the village was bought alive with the sounds of music from the traditional Canarian guitars, folklore singers and dancers.  The celebrations lasted well into the early hours with many out until the sun came up.

By Lucy Evans

Bar Playa is a small open air seaside tapas bar located next to the cement factory in El Pajar just before Arguineguín.  This is a family business that has been running for years and is extremely popular with the locals and weekend visitors to Arguineguin.

Food served includes paella, varieties of fresh fish, fried octopus, salted potatoes etc.  The service is very simple so do not expect anything glamorous and despite the vast number of clients they have the service is fast.  The weekends are especially busy so it is advisable to go early or at least expect to wait a while for a table.

You can expect to pay around 12 Euros per person for a variety of tapas.

A take away service is also available.

Well worth a visit.

Directions: Once off the motorway in Arguineguin take the road to Soria and at the first roundabout take a right turn and follow the road down to the end and on the left hand side you will find the bar.

By Lucy Evans

When I arrived to the island many years ago, I always wondered why the Spanish families came to the beach with a lot of bags, cool bags, food, newspaper, etc. Today I understand, because I and my family do the same thing. We love to take all we need for a whole day to our beautiful beach La Lajilla, where we have a safe beach for our children and beautiful views to the sea, our harbour and on clear days we even see Teide, second highest mountain of Spain. During a whole day we go swimming, diving, fishing having a nice time enjoying our unbeatable climate.

Although the storm we had this winter did leave parts of the promenade ruined, it is still very popular to a lot of people.

Written by Lonnie Lindquist Poulsen

“1. How large of a percentage of your customers are Scandinavians, and how interesting is the Scandinavian market to you?

2. In what way has the financial crisis affected the real estate market on Gran Canaria?

3. What preferences does an average Scandinavian have when they are buying a house/apartment in the south?

4. What is the price per square meter that a Scandinavian buyer in Gran Canaria should expect to pay to fulfil their dreams of a second home in the south?

5. Can financing be obtained in Spanish banks, or must it be arranged from your home country?

Cardenas Real Estate Company was established exactly 30 years ago by Carolina’s parents, Antonio G. Cardenas and Rolande Chagrin. After a long career in the hotel industry and a vast knowledge of languages they both had a desire to provide a high quality, honest and respectful working manner to the visitors to Gran Canaria, considering that in those days the legal security that customers have today did not exist.  As a result of superb testimonials the clientele increased very fast.

Today their daughter Carolina works together with her husband Ramón and her brother Daniel who is a lawyer.  She describes the family business as young and dynamic and is proud to announce that they speak Norwegian, Scandinavian, German, French, Italian, English, Hungarian, Russian and Spanish in their offices. At present, Cardenas has offices in Puerto Rico and Playa de Mogán, with a total of 15 employees. Carolina adds that despite the company’s growth, new technological investments and generation change, they take pride in having maintained their principal quality, professional service and honesty with their clients.

1.  A total of 50% of the properties that we sold last year were purchased by Scandinavians, especially Norwegians. It is therefore considered to be our main market, and we are pleased that the financial crisis has not damaged Norway to the same extent as in many other countries. We do also feel that the market is gaining strength.

2. The financial crisis has affected the prices in a negative way, which gives a negative impact to those who sell and a positive for those who buy. The national market is limited because the banks have large loan restrictions. This leaves us a group of buyers with a strong capital, mostly foreigners. The offers of apartments have increased, because people here are unable to pay their loans, and must therefore sell. In addition, a number of tourist complexes are closing and changing into private complexes, as tourists want to stay in modern hotels or apartments with more facilities. All this has contributed to an over supply in the market that opens up for large price reductions which benefits the buyers.

3. The main criteria’s for our Scandinavian clients are a large terrace with plenty of sun exposure and a nice sea view. It also has great significance that the residence is located in a quiet area with close access to the beach and various local amenities.

4. At present the approximate price per square meter is 3000 Euros in Arguineguin and approximately 2000 Euros in Puerto Rico.

5. Most of our Scandinavian customers organize self-financing in their respective homelands. It is also possible to obtain financing in Spain, but only 60% of the purchase price. To obtain a loan in Spain as a foreigner it requires a relatively large amount of documentation, which makes it easier for most people to arrange a loan from their homeland. Also in Spain to obtain financing from the bank there are costs of approx. 3% (taxes, government fees, etc) which as I understand are not as high in other countries.”

Article by Dag & Natt, translation by Natalia Ballester & Lucy Evans

The construction work of the new motorway between Puerto Rico and Mogán is continuing as planned with an estimated end date in 2012.

At the moment there are 2 tunnels opened and can clearly be seen, the tunnel in Puerto Rico and the tunnel from Mogan to Taurito.

The approximate length of the motorway is 6.3 kilometers which will have a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour. Each section will have two carriageways with two lanes each of 3.5 meters. Given the rugged terrain along the route 3805 meters will be tunnels cut through the mountain.

By Lucy Evans

On the 30^th of May each year the Canarias celebrate Canary Day ‘Día de Canarias’, this day is celebrated in remembrance of the date of establishment of the first regional parliament in 1983.  This year as it falls on a Sunday, the bank holiday has been passed over to the Monday so a lot of happy faces will be seen thanks to the long weekend!

Celebrations and festivities begin during the week mainly with school celebrations, the children dress up in typical canarian costume and hold a party with songs and dances followed by some delicious typical canarian food products including tortillas (Spanish Potato omlettes), papas arrugadas con mojo (Wrinkled potatoes with a mojo sauce), fresh local cheese, tortillas de calabaza (Pumpkin flat cakes) etc.  Parents are always invited along to see their children looking angelical in their costumes, watch them sitting patiently waiting for there performance to start and of course to help finish off the delicious leftovers that the children turn their noses up at!

Many other cultural and leisure activities are held on this day throughout Gran Canaria. Below you will see what there is to see and do in Mogán:

Friday the 28^th of May, 9 pm in La Santiaga Cultural centre, Playa de Mogán there will be a Folklore exhibition from the Music and Dance school with the participation from the students and various other groups.

Saturday the 29^th of May, 9:30pm in the Nicolás Quesada park, Mogán village the official program for the “San Antonio El Chico 2010” (Fiesta in Mogán) will be presented and will be followed by a concert from the local musical group ‘Taorogán’.

Sunday the 30^th of May, 6pm in the Plaza de las Marañuelas  ,Arguineguín there will be a Crafts and regional cuisine fair followed by a concert from Taorogán at 9pm.

By Lucy Evans

As the World Cup in South Africa draws near we are excitedly looking forward to the watching in action 2 Canarian born football players who have been chosen to represent the Spanish selection.

The most important player for those of us who live in the municipal of Mogán is David Jimenez Silva who was born here in Arguineguín in 1986.  At present David plays for Valencia football club but there has been lots of talk in the press about him signing with Real Madrid so for those of us who are Madrid fans this would be fantastic news!

Although he has been living in Valencia since the age of 14 he never misses an opportunity to come to Arguineguín to visit his family and friends and is never too busy to help promote Mogán and Gran Canaria as a holiday destination.

Following his success in the 2008 Euro Cup in which he played in 5 games the City council proudly named the sports complex in Arguineguín after him.

The second Canarian is this season’s most improved player Pedro Rodriguez who plays for Barcelona.  Pedro was born in Tenerife in 1987 and played for a local third division team until he was signed by Barcelona in 2005.  During the season 2008/2009 he debuted as a first team player and has since become irreplaceable helping them to win 5 cup titles last year and this year’s Spanish league.

Photo: Playing with shirt nº 21 is David Silva and with shirt nº 18 is Pedro Rodriguez.

By Cárdenas News